Dear Opera friends, teachers, scholars and kids, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the premiere of Der Freischütz, June 18th, 1821 in Berlin, we want to share some information that you can use for school and education.

The film as well as the music of Der Freischütz can be found on the homepage www.freischütz.com which we are publishing on the occasion of the anniversary.

Enjoy! Syquali Crossmedia AG

IMPRESSUM

© Syquali Crossmedia AG & Family Weber in Zurich for the 200th anniversary of the Freischütz opera 2021 With kind support from Merbag AG.

Syquali Crossmedia AG Seestrasse 261 CH-8038 Zurich Switzerland

2 Contents

GREETING 5

CARL MARIA VON WEBER 6

WORKS 7

TRAVELS 8

DER FREISCHÜTZ - THE PLOT 10

LETTERS 13

HISTORY 14

SUBJECT MATTER AND TIME 16

A GOTHIC NOVEL 17

TURN OF AN ERA 18

ROMANTICISM 19

INTERNATIONAL CARL MARIA VON WEBER SOCIETY 20

CARL MARIA VON WEBER COLLECTED WORKS (WEGA) 20

CARL-MARIA-VON-WEBER-MUSEUM IN DRESDEN 21

SUMMARY 22

3 Greeting

Carl-Maria von Weber opened up new perspectives for German opera in his day, both for music and performance practice, especially with »Der Freischütz«.

With »Hunter’s Bride - Der Freischütz« Jens Neubert has created something great new. He looked right into this masterpiece of Carl Maria von Weber - felt it and especially listened to it. He made Weber’s »Der Freischütz« a matter close to his heart.

The director left Webers’s novel music and its colorful sounds integral in a won- derful way, interpreted it in a classic way and, in a congenial way, transported the work into the composer’s unrest and upheaval. Thanks to his creative use of the medium of film, he can give the plot the originally intended drama, with excellent vocals and performance support from a great team of international world-class singers.

My great, great, great grandfather would have been delighted with this all-round Christian Max Maria von Weber with Jens Neubert 2010 harmonious version because he was understood so well. He would have loved the interpreters of Agathe and Ännchen, they are so wonderful to listen to and beautiful to look at and of course he would have admired the singers, as well as the great camera work, wonderful colors and costumes!

All the artists in »Hunter’s Bride« let their characters live intensely and you literally suffer with the young lovers and heroes in these dire, disoriented war and resto- ration years of the early 19th century. Jens Neubert has succeeded in creating a masterpiece in every respect with this coherent opera film. It is another important milestone in the reception history of the »Der Freischütz«.

Christian Max Maria von Weber Great-great-great-grandson of the composer

4 Carl Maria von Weber

His full name: Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber. Born on November 18 or 19, 1786, in Eutin, Germany, as son of Genovefa and Anton, Carl started into a life full of ups and downs of the Napoleonic wars.

He was a brilliant composer, conductor, musician and author of the romantic school. Today most people know at least his famous opera »Der Freischütz« (»Hunter’s Bride«), or even »Oberon« and »Euryanthe«. Furthermore, the »Freischütz« is often regarded as the first German »national« opera. It is true that people of his time experienced the performances like today’s rock concerts; Its melodies are at the same time sensitive, tuneful, catchy and overwhelming.

Carl Maria was wandering through Europeg as a child: His father had a touring theatre until 1796. It was also his father who recognized the great talent of Carl Maria and devoted a lot of time into his musical training. Carl soon gave his first great performances. Aged 18, Carl Maria was already the musical director and conductor in Breslau (Silesia). At this time, he began to reform the performance practice, as it is widely valid until today. The press usually was full of praise. How- ever, sometimes the critics wrote that he conducted a bit too fast. In 1807, Carl Maria had to leave Silesia due to the invasion of Napoleonic troops.

Portrait of Carl Maria von Weber After he held the rather boring office of an intimate state secretary in Württem- berg until 1810 – but stimulatingly composing works; for piano, his opera »Silvana«, etc. – he started again years of traveling through Germany and Europe. He finally settled down as head of the Prague musical theatre in 1813, where he fell in love with the married actress and dancer Therese Brunetti. Hence this passion did not prove successful, he turned to the beautiful black-haired Caroline Brandt. He had to make a lot of efforts until they finally got married in 1817. However, Prague turned out to be the wrong environment for his creativity; beside the everyday work in the theatre and concert tours, he did not have enough time for his com- positions. Therefore, the couple decided to move to Dresden where he became Court Kapellmeister and went on with reforms and compositions.

Dresden, August Bride and Court Theatre His opera premieres of »Euryanthe« (1823 in Vienna), »Oberon« (1826 in Lon- don) and especially of »Der Freischütz« (1821 in Berlin) became a resounding success and profiled him as a European composer. Carl Maria von Weber’s life must have been fairly exhausting; next to all his travelling he had been fighting tuberculosis since child days. In February 1826, he traveled to Paris and further to London where he died in the night of June 4–5, 1826, aged 39. He was buried in the tomb of Moorsfield Chapel but in 1844, his coffin transferred to Dresden where the composer Richard Wagner gave his famous eulogy »At Weber’s last resting place«.

However, we would like you to remember Carl Maria von Weber as a man sitting in his garden house in Hosterwitz near Dresden, composing the »Freischütz«, sur- New market in Dresden rounded by beloved Caroline, his son Max Maria (born in 1822) and a lot of pets; among them a turtle, a monkey, a cat and a dog. When enjoying the evenings in his garden, he sometimes used to lift his cap and to the say: »Thanks god – I guess that I am the happiest man in the world«.

5 Works

Carl Maria von Weber had been composing all his life. His life’s work comprise more than 400 pieces, and more than 30 poets – among them William Shake- speare, Ludwig Tieck or Carl Maria himself – contributed the texts (i.e. »librettos«) to his compositions. Very often, Carl Maria dedicated his works to persons who were important to him: e.g. to crowned heads such as King Johann I. of Saxony, or to poets such as Johann Friedrich Kind, or to his wife Caroline.

Carl Maria’s first work was published when he was 12 years old (»Sechs Fughet- ten« i.e. »Six Fughettas«). To his works of course belong stage entertainments such as the operas »Der Freischütz« (Hunter’s Bride), »Euryanthe«, »Oberon«, »Silvana«, or »Peter Schmoll and his neighbors«, but also numerous pieces of chamber, piano as well as sacred music, music for ballets, waltz, marches, songs, and even fanfares.

Furthermore, Carl Maria also had been a gifted author. He not only wrote hun- dreds of letters to an awful lot of people, but also diaries, short stories, essays and articles as music journalist. His polished diction was famous for his refined humor.

6 Travels

Carl Maria von Weber had been traveling all his life.

After he was born in Eutin, he moved with his parents to Hamburg in 1787. Before and after the move, Weber used to travel to Vienna to visit relatives living there. However, already in 1789, he joined a drama society, performing in sev- eral German cities, among them Kassel; but starting from 1789 until 1796, Carl Maria traveled together with his family across Europe to Nuremberg, Bamberg, Bayreuth, Weimar, Salzburg and so on. After a father-and-son-tour through Saxony and Bohemia, they ended up in Freiberg, which was a mining centre at the time.

In 1804, Carl Maria moved via Salzburg, Munich, Augsburg and probably Karls- bad to Breslau (Silesia) where he became a musical director and conductor.

Due to movements of the Napoleonic troops, he turned to Württemberg, where he spent the years from 1807–1810 as a state secretary of Duke Louis, the young- er brother of the Württemberg King.

Funny enough, Carl Maria himself called the following years until 1813 his »travel- ing years«. However, looking for a job and giving concerts, he once again traveled through Germany to finally stay in Prague until 1816.

Unsatisfied with his more uncreative job at the musical theatre, Carl Maria moved in 1817 to Dresden as Court Kapellmeister; premieres of his operas »Der Freischütz« (1821 in Berlin), »Euryanthe« (1823 in Vienna), »Oberon« (1826 in London) and concert tours led him to Paris and all through Europe.

From this eventful, unsettled life it can be easily understood that Carl Maria is far from being a national but a European composer, as a cosmopolitan artist who was well versed in the ways of the world. He even included a Chinese tune in his incidental music for the theatre play »Turandot«.

Hohenstein, Germany

Pirna, Germany Tetschen, Germany 7 8 Der Freischütz - The Plot

Act 1: EVIL POWERS BEGINS TO GATHER

Following the end of the war, a marksmanship contest is held during which a pros- perous farmer (Kilian) is proclaimed the winner and not the young hunter Max, who on the next day is supposed to succeed the head gamekeeper Kuno and marry his daughter Agathe. The traditional requirement for this is a successful trial shot made in the presence of the duke.

Max, who has lost his sharpshooting skills, is ridiculed publicly for this. As a result, evil powers are able to take hold within him: Kaspar, in alliance with the dark hunter Zamiel, persuades him to cast magic bullets at midnight in the Wolf’s Glen without disclosing the extent of the devilish plan.

Act 2: EVIL POWERS GAIN INFLUENCE

Like an omen, a portrait of an ancestor falls from the wall in the gamekeeper’s house and fuels Agathe’s sense of foreboding. Despite happy moments spent with her young cousin Ännchen, the reassurances offered by Max only increase her fears. The more so as his announcement that he must retrieve a dead buck from the Wolf’s Glen at night sounds more than mysterious.

Before he arrives at the glen, Kaspar has long enlisted Zamiel’s help and made preparations for casting the magic bullets. At midnight, hellish noise, visions, and the revolt of nature fill the glen, a place which magically attracts and unnerves Max at the same time. Still, the seven bullets are cast with Zamiel ready to direct the final one according to his desire.

9 10 Act 3: EVIL POWERS ARE VANQUISHED

While the magic bullets are being cast, fear gathers in Agathe’s unconsciousness, not a good sign for the coming wedding day. Just as ominous is the funeral wreath instead of the expected bridal wreath in the box which the singing maids of hon- our bring Agathe. Since the conversations with the hermit, she senses something bad will happen and her forebodings seem to come true. To make the best of it, she binds a wreath out of the hermit’s roses and goes to the place where the people have gathered with the duke and head gamekeeper.

Max takes aim at the white dove (with the seventh remaining magic bullet) and Agathe falls to the ground (only in a faint, but initially no one realizes this). The bullet directed by the dark hunter Zamiel has killed none other but Kaspar. The duke commands that the corpse be thrown into the Wolf’s Glen and wants to banish Max, who admits to wrongdoing, from the country. The hermit, without whose powers Zamiel’s bullet would have killed Agathe, is able to prevent this from happening.

A happy end: Max is granted a year’s probation and as a result has a good chance of winning Agathe’s hand in marriage.

11 Letters

During his life, Carl Maria von Weber wrote nearly 2,000 letters to relatives, friends, artists, donors, and even kings and popes.

Carl Maria wrote his first known letter in 1797 aged 11 from Salzburg to his teacher Mr Heuschkel telling him that he was lucky to get further lessons from Michael Haydn (the younger brother of famous composer Joseph Haydn), but telling him at the same time that he will never get such a great teacher again as Mr Heuschkel.

His beloved Caroline (they married in 1817) e.g. got about 100 letters between 1814 and 1817, which can be read now like a love novel. Musicologists are still discussing whether Caroline was the model for »hunter’s bride« Agathe or her young relative »Ännchen«.

Of course Carl Maria wrote a lot of letters during his numerous travels across Germany and Europe. Also other parts of his correspondence can be bought as books such as his letters to Hinrich Lichtenstein, a German physician, explorer and zoologist, who was responsible for the creation of Berlin’s zoological gardens in 1841.

Regula Mühlemann as Ännchen

12 History

The lifetime of Carl Maria von Weber, his music and especially his most famous opera »Der Freischütz« (Hunter’s Bride) can only be understood regarding their historical background.

During Carl Maria’s childhood and youth, Saxony was the centre of the Napole- onic wars; between revolution and restoration. Napoleon who visited Dresden already in 1807 was deeply impressed by the beauty of the city and its rich cultural life. At this time, Carl Maria von Weber had to leave Silesia due to the invasion of the Napoleonic troops. He actually made his life here as freelance musician, teach- er and planned concerttours; his travel planning finally was foiled due to military tensions, and Carl Maria had to leave his favorer Duke Eugen von Württemberg where he worked also as teacher of the Duke’s son.

13 Napoleon went back to Dresden in 1812 to meet his allies, Austrian emperor Franz I. and King Friedrich August I. of Saxony in order to prepare his campaign against Russia. The streets were crowded with soldiers of different armies showing all kinds of military pomp; at the end of this year, Napoleon came back from his crusade, beaten, to see the Saxon King. He lost only one year later his Austrian allies who changed allegiance; it became dangerous to be friend with a looser. Napoleon was banished. The people in the streets hoped for a national renewal and most of all for peace. Many people had lost their youth in the years of war, ending up without future and hope, traumatized by wartime experiences. Therefore, we understand that Max, the lead in »Der Freischütz«, cries: »Is there no god?«

Friedrich August I.

14 Carl Maria became acquainted with the story for »Freischütz« in 1810, when he read the corresponding tale by August Apel in his »Book of Ghosts«. In 1817, he invited the Dresden poet Friedrich Kind to write the libretto for »Freischütz«. Through 1821, the opera was completed. Very interesting is that the title of this opera varied in its formative phase between »Freischütz« (freeshooter), »Probeschuss« (trial shoot), and »Jägersbraut« (hunter’s bride).

By now you can understand the real historical context in the tunes of »Der Freischütz«. Although formally, Carl Maria von Weber determined as time of his most famous opera the Thirty-Years’ War. In the opera Film »Hunter’s Bride« (2009) by Jens Neubert, the time of the Napoleonic wars was chosen as back- ground for this timeless story.

15 Subject Matter and Time

Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826) composed the romantic opera »Der Freischütz« between 1810 and 1821. He finished the main part of the opera in Dresden and in his country house in Hosterwitz, not far away from Dresden. Weber had already been fascinated by the subject matter in 1810. He discovered it in a collection of ghost stories by Johann August Apel. For a long time, Weber’s opera remained a draft entitled »Die Jägersbraut« (The Hunter’s Bride).

Weber begins the opus at the end of the Napoleonic wars, suspends composing during the Congress of Vienna, and finishes the opera between 1817 and 1821. Many references to the happenings of the contemporary time can be found in the »Freischütz« .

Carl Maria von Weber worked as a Saxon director of music at the State Opera in Dresden. Saxony was on the side of the Em- peror throughout all the Napoleonic wars. The experiences of Napoleon crowning himself emperor along with the occupation and the territorial shattering as a consequence of the Congress of Vienna are all included in the music.

The panorama of Saxon history in the times of the Napoleonic wars shows the humanistic and social- historical background of the opus in context to the »Freischütz« opera, and gives the classical opera a new, pan-European perspective.

QUESTIONS

What is an opera?

When and where did the opera »Der Freischütz« come about?

What is the name of the composer of the opera?

Why is »Der Freischütz« a romantic opera?

16 A Gothic Novel

In 1797/98 the German translation to the famous English Gothic novel »The Monk«[ger: Der Mönch] by Mathew Gregory Lewis was published in Leipzig. In this »Gothic Novel« (named like that because of the setting in churches and old castles) a monk becomes the tool of the devil and eventually is judged by the devil himself. This model can be found in the »Freischütz« as well. Another source is a criminal report. »Unterredungen von dem Reiche der Geister« [»Talks about the realm of ghosts«] (Leipzig 1729) presents a report about the trial against young Georg Schmid in a little town in the Bohemian Forest at the beginning of the 18th century. It supposedly was an avowal of Schmid’s uncanny experiences at a cross-roads at midnight retrieved through torture.

The sheet music of the last version was composed between 1817 and 1821, at the same time as Beethoven was working on the Ninth Symphony. The opera is referred to as »Die Jägersbraut« in Weber’s early scraps. In an unpublished letter from 26th August 1881 Weber writes about his sojourn in Dresden where he worked so hard until his spirit and body were exhausted. Eventually he was freed from civil service for two months and went to Hosterwitz on 22nd June to nally continue working on »Die Jägersbraut«. There, Weber said, he woke up from the maelstrom of the political happenings of this time to a little quiet island where time stood still and provided him with tranquillity and joy.

The fable of the »Freischütz« takes up one of the most popular literary genres, the Gothic Novel, and combines it with a well- known crime story. The authors of the »Freischütz« aimed explicitly at creating a piece to entertain and enthral the audience: they combined familiar elements with less-known ones, fashionable elements with experiences. The irritation of the senses was due to the familiar atmosphere. The sound of the music was new. Fantasy and reality blurred together to form an outrageous substrate: the individual is revealed the prisoner of fate. The opera was thrown in the faces of the audience and divided it into promoters and spurners. Planning became superuous: the demand for a God to take responsibility for the misery, was answered with the Devil by Weber, since God was silent. The Devil, though, spoke and helped out in times of trouble. Was it only the Zeit- geist that made the »Freischütz« popular? People whistled those devilish melodies across all borders, from London to Vienna, from Berlin to Paris. They were possessed, Heinrich Heine wrote.

QUESTIONS

What is a Gothic Novel?

Where did the first Gothic Novels come about?

What is a way of the cross?

17 Turn of an Era

Between 1791 and 1813 Saxony became the »uncanny« centre of Europe, and was the factor that tipped the scales between Revolution and Restoration.

Napoleon had come to Dresden for the first time already in July 1807. During his stay he visited the Castles Moritzburg and Pillnitz, the Art Gallery, the Royal Library as well as concerts and operas. Afterwards he went to Paris. In May 1812 he met with his allies the Austrian Emperor Franz I and King Friedrich August I of Saxony in Dresden to start the campaign against Russia. The painter Wilhelm von Kügelgen stated that the presence of so many armies filled the city for martial pomp: bells and canons tolled at the reception of those sovereigns, great parades and manoeuvres entertained them and at night the city glit- tered in the light of thousands of lamps.

On 14th December of the same year, Napoleon returned vanquished to confront that Saxon king. One year later on 28th June 1813 Napoleon fell out with the Austrian Chancellor Prince Clemens Wenzel Lothar Graf von Met- ternich at the Brühl-Marcolini-Palais in Dresden. After this conversation Austria joined the anti-Napoleonic allies.

The people did not see the beginning of a national renewal in the change of alliance at first, but the chance for early peace. Many longed for the old times, or attached their hopes to regional patriotism. The youth was alone with their ideals and without any future. Youth was over.

Max exclamation »Lebt kein Gott?« [Is there no God?] gives a voice to a whole generation.

Napoleon was banished, but his spirit lives in the melodies of the »Freischütz«. Max shoots a white dove instead of an eagle. Weber tells the story of four young people whose hopes were destroyed in the Napoleonic wars. The love story between Max and Agathe stands for the sentiments of their generation who have to stand their ground in times of change.

QUESTIONS

Who was Napoleon?

What does »restoration« mean?

Why is the film opera set in Napoleon’s time?

18 Romanticism

Carl Maria von Weber is known as the »Father of German Romanticism«. Today we connect the word romanticism to the word »romantic« – candle light dinners, sunset by the sea and so on. It has to do with love, longing, and nature...

Strictly speaking, romanticism is an artistic, literary and intellectual movement be- tween approx. 1795 and 1848. It can be subdivided in several parts and styles, nonetheless, they all deal with emotions, passion, soul and individuality, and all are longing for secrets and mysteries. It was a direct reaction to the rationalization of nature, an attempt to escape from a grey world of »cold« sciences, industrializa- tion, numbers, population growth, and urban sprawl – »back to nature«, to folk music, to the fairytales and spontaneity of the childhood, to beauty and to refined feelings and enthusiastic, rapturous ideals. Famous composers of this time are among many others after Carl Maria von Weber, Richard Wagner, and Frédéric Chopin.

QUESTION

Which composers, poets and painters from the Romanticism do you know?

19 International Carl Maria von Weber Society

The International Carl Maria von Weber Society aims to enrich today’s cultural life with works of Carl Maria von Weber, not only by the means of concerts, but also with readings, exhibitions, symposia, and lectures. It is an association where lovers of music, musicians, scientists, cultural managers, and both lay (wo)men and professionals meet.

The International Carl Maria von Weber Society’s office is situated in the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin). Founded in 1991, its objectives have been to maintain and raise the interest in Carl Maria von Weber’s multi-facet- ed works and to increase the awareness for his music in concert halls and op- era houses. It especially supports the Carl Maria von Weber Collected Works (WeGA) which is (sponsored by the Academy of Science and Literature Mainz) heading for publishing all his compositions, letters, diaries, and writings until 2026, the 200th anniversary of Carl Maria von Weber’s death.

Several publications document the work of the Weber Society; first of all the WEBERIANA, which is published once a year with reviews of concerts, operas, CDs, books, sheet music, scientific contributions, and articles of family members and companions.

Link to the Website

Carl Maria von Weber Collected Works

(WeGA)

The WeGA is a venture funded by the Academy of Science and Literature Mainz. Its main objective is a complete scholarly edition of Weber’s compositions, letters, diaries and writings up to his 200th birthday in 2026. The edition will approximate- ly comprise 50 volumes of score including critical reports, 10 volumes of letters, approx. 8 volumes of diaries, 2 volumes writings, a catalogue as well as multiple vol- umes of documents. All textual parts (i.e. exclusive of scores) are being published as digital edition on the website in the first instance. The edition is being prepared under the direction of Prof. Dr. Gerhard Allroggen at the two offices of the WeGA, one at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz – and the other at the Musicological Seminar Detmold/Paderborn. The »Weber-Studien« series appear simultaneously with the edition.

Link to the website

20 Carl Maria von Weber-

Museum in Dresden

The Carl-Maria-von-Weber-Museum enchants as an authentic place of life and work of one of the most important German composers, and it is the only museum in the world that is dedicated to Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826).

The Dresden court conductor spent the summer months from 1818 onwards in this winegrower’s house, which was built around 1725. With his family he retired to the idyllic winegrower’s house in Hosterwitz and experienced the happiest moments of his life here. Numerous compositions were created, such as his op- eras »Euryanthe« or »Abu Hassan«, many songs and chamber music. His famous opera “Der Freischütz” may have been inspired by walks in nearby Keppgrund or by excursions to Saxon Switzerland. The composer’s memory was cherished here as early as the middle of the 19th century, but it wasn’t until 1948 that the first exhibition was opened on the ground floor. In 1957 the memorial was official- ly opened after the death of Weber’s great-granddaughter Mathilde von Weber (1881-1956), who made her estate available.

The Carl-Maria-von-Weber-Museum has been one of the museums of the city of Dresden since 2005. In the original rooms, furniture, works of art and historical testimonies are reminiscent of the composer and his environment and make the visit a special experience.

Link to the website

The Carl Maria von Weber Museum in Dresden, Germany

21 Summary:

Carl Maria von Weber

• Important German romantic composer, conductor and publicist.

1786 - 1803

• Born in Eutin (Schleswig-Holstein) in 1786

• Father Franz Anton used to travel frequently with his family; worked as musician and theatre director, especially in the first decade of Carl Maria’s life.

• Raised and presented – in the manner of Mozart – as a child prodigy (Weber’s father was the brother of Mozart’s wife Constanze). Received his education in music under Michael Haydn in Salzburg and Abbé Vogler in Vienna.

1804 - 1816

• Band master in Breslau, music director in Carlsruhe (Silesia), privy secretary to Ludwig von Württemberg in Stuttgart (banished in 1810), travels, music director in Prague

• 1810: became acquainted with the story for Freischütz (corresponding tale by August Apel in his Gespensterbuch (Book of Ghosts); Leipzig 1810), planning of the Freischütz opera project together with Alexander von Dusch.

1817 - 1826

• Band master the Royal Saxon Court Theatre (Kgl.-Sächsisches Hoftheater); established the German opera in Dresden. Wrote operas, orchestra, chamber and piano music, masses, cantatas, cantos and songs.

• From 1817: invited the Dresden poet Friedrich Kind to write the libretto for Freischütz

• 1821: completion of the opera »Der Freischütz« (The Freeshooter). The title of the opera varied in its formative phase between Freischütz (freeshoot- er), Probeschuss (trial shoot), and Jägersbraut (hunter’s bride).

• Debut performances of his most important operas in European metropolises: Der Freischütz (The Freeshooter) in Berlin 1821, »Euryanthe« in Vienna 1823, »Oberon« in London 1826.

• Died in London in 1826. Buried at the old Catholic churchyard in Dresden.

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